In this episode of GSA Does That, we look closely at one of GSA's contracts that is helping to expand contracting opportunities to small businesses. Guests Herman Lyons, a business management specialist, and Jean Fluevog, a contract specialist, offer practical advice on when to know your small business is ready to bid on a GSA Schedule, and then when ready, how to go about it.
Want to know more?
For a deeper dive into small business opportunities at GSA and across the government, look at these resources to learn more.
"GSA Does That!?" is the U.S. General Services Administration's first agency-wide podcast, offering listeners an inside look into how GSA and its partners benefit the American people. Hosted by Rob Trubia, the podcast features interviews with GSA leaders, experts, partners, and customers, covering topics such as federal real estate, acquisitions, and technology. The title reflects many's surprise at the scope of GSA's impact. At the same time, the artwork pays homage to President Harry S. Truman, who established GSA in 1949 to improve government efficiency and save taxpayer money. Whether you're a policy wonk or just curious about government operations, you can join the listener community.
For more information about the show visit, gsa.gov/podcast.
In this episode of GSA Does That, we look closely at one of GSA's contracts that is helping to expand contracting opportunities to small businesses. Guests Herman Lyons, a business management specialist, and Jean Fluevog, a contract specialist, offer practical advice on when to know your small business is ready to bid on a GSA Schedule, and then when ready, how to go about it.
Want to know more?
For a deeper dive into small business opportunities at GSA and across the government, look at these resources to learn more.
"GSA Does That!?" is the U.S. General Services Administration's first agency-wide podcast, offering listeners an inside look into how GSA and its partners benefit the American people. Hosted by Rob Trubia, the podcast features interviews with GSA leaders, experts, partners, and customers, covering topics such as federal real estate, acquisitions, and technology. The title reflects many's surprise at the scope of GSA's impact. At the same time, the artwork pays homage to President Harry S. Truman, who established GSA in 1949 to improve government efficiency and save taxpayer money. Whether you're a policy wonk or just curious about government operations, you can join the listener community.
For more information about the show visit, gsa.gov/podcast.
Welcome to GSA Does That!? The stories behind the federal agency delivering effective and efficient government. I'm your host, Rob Trubia. And at this, our third episode, we'll take you aboard the incredible 8(a) STARS 3 GWAC Spaceship. Okay, it's not a spaceship, but today's topic does have the ability to help your company reach new heights. So really, what is the 8(a) STARS 3 GWAC . Well, it's simply a small business contract, like so many of the small business contracts that GSA administers. But STARS is a bit unique in that it gives the federal government access to a vast array, and I do mean a vast array of I.T. services and solutions from a diverse pool of industry partners. And this program, like many of our small business contracts, goes beyond borders, supporting requirements both within and outside the United States, creating a world of opportunity for your business. So picture that world where businesses are as important as Fortune 500, companies, where emerging technologies are embraced and given the spotlight. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. We know that. And GSA has a host of contract specialists who work every day to make sure these companies are positioned to do business with their government. And of course, we will address the question on everyone's mind. How can small business, maybe your small business, become an industry partner with the government? We’ll break down the requirements and shed light on some of the steps to join this group of providers. Fasten your seatbelts, grab a cup of coffee and join me in our guest today. Herman Lyons, GSA business management specialist and contract specialist Jean Fluevog as we uncover the world of small business contracting with the United States government. And remember this podcast is available on all major platforms. Please be sure to subscribe. For more information about the show and the deep dive into the episode, visit us at GSA.gov/podcast. Okay, let's jump right in. Herman, Jean, thank you both for being with us today. Hey, Rob, thanks. Glad to be here, Rob. All right. So let's kick things off by getting to know you both a bit better. Where do you call home? And tell us a little bit about your journey, the journey that ended you up in the world of government contracting. Herman, maybe you can start us off. Sure. Well, sounds good, Rob. Thanks again for having us. We're really excited to be here and talk a little bit about the 8(a) STARS 3 GWAC and then small business in general. A little bit about me. I've been on the Stars 3 team going on 15 years, and now I have the opportunity to be on the 8(a) STARS 3 program. manager. So it's they are the past 15 years have been great. I live in Kansas City, Missouri, so right in right in the heartland region. A little bit about me and how I got here, actually, as immediately after graduating college, I began working for small business in Kansas City, Missouri. And during the time there, I really had an opportunity to learn about small business and government contracting. This business was a small, disadvantaged business located in a hub zone or what's called a historically underutilized business zone. On My Lady, who was a service disabled veteran. Right. And I had the opportunity to find out about this government contracting thing and had the ability to apply for the 8(a) certification, get on GSA's multiple award schedule and start building the other side of the fence. Right, I’ve done a lot of what our GSA contractors do. And when I had the opportunity to come on over with GSA and be a business management specialist, I jumped at the opportunity. So really enjoy the ride. So far. I enjoy having a different perspective than most of my colleagues, seeing things from both sides of the fence, if you will. So that's a little bit about me and kind of kind of how I got to GSA and to be a member of the 8(a) STARS 3 team. Well, thanks Herman and thanks for sharing that. I appreciate. How about you, Jean? Well, Rob, I took a little different route from as compared to Herman. But like him, I am in the the Greater Kansas City metropolitan area and on the Kansas side right outside of Fort Leavenworth. I did spend about 20 years in the in the United States Army. And then I followed that up with a position with a major defense contractor. But following that, I too went to work for a small, disadvantaged business. And ironically, it was that job that ultimately led me to to join the GSA. I've spent my first couple of years with the GSA as a contract specialist on the 8(a) STARS 2 GWAC , which was the predecessor contract to the current STARS 3. And then after that, I was selected to be the principal CO on 8(a) STARS 3 . Excellent, so lots of experience. We're glad you're both here. And Jean, thank you for your service in the Army. 20 years. That's really outstanding. Thank you so much. Appreciate it, Rob. Well, gentlemen, like I said, I'm really glad to get to know you both. And we're really glad you're here. So I wasn't surprised when I started to take a look into this that GSA has had an A rating with the Small Business Administration for over a decade and running. So with that, we know GSA has a very solid reputation for supporting small businesses and giving them a seat at the table in the federal marketplace. So, Herman, what are some of the ways GSA opens doors for small businesses to really thrive and it's such a competitive environment? Yeah, that's a that's a really good question. I appreciate it. I think what GSA does best is give small businesses an opportunity in the small business GWAC division and on the (8a) STARS 3 team we're all about providing opportunity to our entire industry partner base. You know, when you look at GSA as a whole, you've got GSA's office of small and disadvantaged business utilization, who's there to really promote small business across the agency. But I'd like to highlight actually the GSA contract vehicles as well, though all the small business set asides we have, which allow our GSA customers the ability to leverage these small businesses are one of the thing that I'm most proud of on the 8(a) STARS 3 team. As you know, when we started this program actually over three decades ago, in the late 1990, it was all about providing those businesses that opportunity, specifically those small businesses who had traditionally been left out of federal procurement. Right. And and three decades later, we're still doing it. So somebody asked me what we do in a nutshell or why we do it. In my mind, it's all about the opportunity. Every small business who wants to be successful, they have a chance. Rob I’d like to tell one of the stories that Jean and I like to tell are data points we like to track is what we call our our rising stars. And it's really our industry partners who have received their first GSA contract through this this contract vehicle. So I should say their first GSA task order award through this contract vehicle. And so, you know, we've got 300 industry partners who have received task order awards, and 170 of them are rising stars, meaning that this contract vehicle provided them that that first bite at the apple, if you will, or that first opportunity to work on GSA. So, you know, I hate to go down the8(a) STARS rabbit hole, but when you look at GSA holistically, you look at the OSDBU office, as you look at, you know, our our strategic plan and how we want to have a diverse industry partner base, it just kind of all fits together. And we're very proud of the opportunities that we've given our our industry partners. It sounds like, you know, with those rising stars, 170 of them, like you said, there's quite a few businesses right there. They're just starting off with working with the government and becoming a contractor. Herman, maybe you could just explain a little bit what defines a small business. That can be a tricky question. You know, it depends on the year. The industry that you were in. For example, some industries are small businesses, a business who has less than X-number of industry partners, whereas other industries it may be average gross sales receipts of an industry partner, right? For example. So in the IT world that Jean and I work in, that's typically taken a look at the average gross receipts over a three year period for industry partners to say, Hey, if you at this and I'll just use an example here, Rob, you know, if you've exceeded $37 million on average gross receipts, if you've exceeded that, you may be considered what is other than a small business. However, if you have not, maybe you would still be considered a small business. So it just kind of depends on the industry. And again, those three, your average receipts and again, that changes, right? We take a look at inflation over the past few years it has really grown. And you know, SBA, you know, they set the target that, hey, here are the thresholds that are going to be the small business or other than small business. So it really depends. I would hope that that gives you kind of a good idea of why a business might be classified as small or other than small. Well, that that is certainly helpful and it's pivoted here. Let's let's just talk about the star of the show here. The 8(a) STARS 3 GWAC the thing that I call the spaceship, which is not a spaceship. It is a contract, a contract that's awarded over $20 billion to small businesses in just the last decade. From my understanding, it's all about I.T. services, i.t. Service based solutions. But what exactly does that encompass? Herman, can you give us some examples of the specific services that fall under this big I.T service umbrella? Yeah, sure. You know, we can be talking about anything from I.T. helpdesk support database administration to robot robotic process automation or RPA. The big one, Artificial intelligence, Right. That's been all of the place, at least in the past three or four months. So we're starting to see a little bit about that. Cloud computing is something that we see Jean going to you. Jean are you seeing much else that I've I've neglected to mention or that we should probably bring up? Well, thanks a lot, Herman. And yeah, the the STARS vehicle is is got what we would consider a real broad scope. One of the things that's consistently done in government contracting is there's there's a thing called a NICS code and and that describes it's an industry standard for that type of work. Most government contracts tied to a specific NICS code on the STARS vehicle and in fact, not only on STARS but also on our service disabled VETS2 GWAC We wrote the scope of both of these contracts very broadly so that you don't have you're not restricted by a single NICS code as long as the principal purpose of a requirement is an IT service or an IT services based solution, it's going to be within scope that that broad scope allows an agency who has a requirement that includes a number of different things, and some of them may not even be it to get that solution through a single contract. So as an example, say so, you've got a data center and for whatever reason you've got to move it across the street. So you're looking at some I.T. services, you may be looking at some I.T hardware, some new racks, new servers, and you know, the engineer on a project says we got a dig a, you know, we've got to dig a trench here across the street and we've got to do some minor construction. So typically that kind of a a total solution would be a real mess for a contracting officer. But provided the overall solution remains that i.t service or service based solution, you could wrap all of those requirements into a single STARS or even a single VETS2 task order. That's one of the great things about GWACS because they they allow that total i.t service based solution. So it's a huge amount of flexibility on this under this umbrella in STARS. That's what you're saying. It absolutely is Rob. Which like you said, for a contracting officer, this must really be very helpful because when you're doing these projects, they do span a large scope of services and that's what this does. So you know what we're looking at size, we're talking about it and we're talking about sizable I.T. spending across the government. It's eye opening for sure. We're talking about, from what I understand, a $72 billion. That's billion with a B and total obligations just in FY 22 alone. So here's a pressing question. How does the 8(a) STARS 3 program impact our small business partners? We talked a little bit about the flexibility and the large scope of it. But I mean, once again, if they're in this program, do they hit the ground running and achieve instant success or are there certain strategies, Herman, you might recommend they consider to make the most out of this really tremendous opportunity? Sure. Yeah. You know, Rob, I could probably go on and on about the 8(a) STARS 3 GWAC and how it impacts our industry partners. But I but I'll keep it simple and I'll go back to what I said earlier. 8(a) STARS 3 gives these 8(a) small disadvantaged businesses an opportunity, an opportunity to be successful. You know, I mentioned it a little bit earlier that, you know many of the industry partners, about 170, have received task order awards. This vehicle that they otherwise hadn't had otherwise gotten. So we just want to make sure that all of our industry partners have an opportunity. I like to tell them all the time some will take it and some will, and that's fine because we want to meet you where you are. Now. The second part of your question, I think our remember right, is about, you know, success, right in instant success. And, you know, we've paid our fair share of exceptional industry partners in the past 15 years. I have kind of seen it all. But what I haven't seen or what I can't recall is one industry partner who achieved instant success. I mean, as I think about it, the strongest industry partners seem to have a well thought out capture management strategy so they know what they want to do and where they want to do it. And when they want to do it. They're very, very good at doing something right. They don't do a little bit of this, a little bit of that, but they're very, very good at doing, you know, this discipline here, this discipline there. And they and they can communicate that to federal acquisition professionals. I often tell our industry partners that people do business with folks that they know they like and that they trust industry partners. If federal acquisition professionals don't know who you are, I can guarantee you you're not going to get me work if they don't like you or don't trust you, Yeah, you can forget it. So, you know, we've seen several industry partners, you know, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in task order award, you know, winning task order awards. But that doesn't happen overnight. We're looking to industry partners who work, who know what they're doing. And on average, it takes an industry partner, the most successful ones, anywhere from 16 to 18 months to receive their first task, go to work. And the hard part is chugging through that 16 to 18 months. Right. But once you get there, you get some experience, you get some past performance, and you're just building on the experience that you have. And so it sounds like it's not really any different than any other business they're doing with any other company. Just because it's a government, it's not different. It's still about relationships, It's about persistence, expertise and and patience. But that patience really does sound like it pays off. So I've understood in tell me if I'm wrong here, but I think the ship has sort of sailed for the initial opening to join the STARS 3 program. I get that. But I imagine there's always new contracts to be a part of for all sorts of businesses, not just i.t. And with that said, how does a small American business keep an eye out for future contracting opportunities and what kind of rewards await them if they decide to get on board? We talked about that a little bit. It's not an instant success. We're talking 12, 16, 18 months to get going. But for those small business owners out there listening, Jean, what can they look forward to? And really how do they even begin to look at becoming a contractor with the government? Sure. That's that's really a great question. And yes, you're you're right. Stars the stars. GWAC or Service disabled VETS2, both of those are what are considered competitive opportunity. And so like most government contract contracting opportunities, the government synopses is and publishes a requirement through through SAM.gov and then the companies that are interested and have the capability to perform on that requirement submit a proposal and that's evaluated. And the folks who have a good proposal that meets the requirements are going to end up with an award. STARS 3 was very inclusive. Like, like you said, we have over 1100 companies on the STARS GWAC. Wow. Now the VETS , the VETS GWAC is is a little more exclusive and it's targeted at companies that are a little more mature. And so there's that started out with 60 companies and now it's down to I think about 45. But there are other GSA vehicles. And what's really important, I think, for companies out there that are interested in getting into the federal marketplace, you have to understand and you have to really know what your capabilities are. If it's not I.T., then a GWAC is not your the way you want to go because. GWAC by definition, are I.T. contracts. But the GSA has other vehicles. We have our our federal schedules program or what everybody commonly references to simply as a GSA schedule. And that can that can be everything there are there are schedules that cover hardware like you said, laptops if if you're if you're into the you know, the access control, you're you're good at installing, you know, access control systems and cipher locks and things like that. There's a GSA schedule that specifically targets those security type systems. If you if you have a janitorial business, there's a GSA schedule for janitorial service. So the schedule program runs the gamut on hardware, software, even the, you know, photocopiers, other kinds of office equipment. But then we also have schedules that are specifically targeted at services. And we have some other vehicles, our our OASIS contract vehicle, which is another multiple award contractor targets, professional services that other than I.T. And then we have our our HCaTS contract, which is really on targeting companies that provide human capital and training opportunities. The OASIS an HCaTS. It's again like STARS and VETS are competitive opportunities there. There's going to be a specific open solicitation period that you have to respond within some of our contracts that are competitive like that do have what we call an onboarding or an open season opportunity and essentially what that allows the GSA to do is look at the needs of the government, look at our our socioeconomic diversity objectives. And if it's if it's the right thing to do, and then we can onboard or bring on an A reopen that solicitation and bring on additional industry partners. The great thing about Schedules program, though, is that's they maintain an open solicitation. So all you have to do is go up on GSA, gov kind of put in put in GSA schedules into the search and, you know, search field. And you can find the open solicitation and you submit an offer with pricing and that's evaluated. And, you know, in most cases, I think you're going to you're going to see that you're going to be successful and get the GSA schedule. And then that allows you to to get the orders. But like Herman said, you know, it's it's not you're not going to see success overnight. You've got you got to press that. You got to market your capabilities to specific federal agencies that line up and are buying the type of service or product that you sell. And then, you know, it's it's just it's hard work, just like, you know, trying to capture business on in the commercial sector. You've got to you got to sell sell. So that's all really helpful. And I'm going to just back up a little bit because you did share what what it takes. But I'm just going to pretend here. There's a small business owner listening right now. Maybe we'll use your example. They own a janitorial business in Denver, Colorado, and they're like, you know what? I want to look at these schedules. I want to roll my hat in the ring. I would like to see if I can become a contractor with the federal government. Tell me once again what and really simple terms. What what do they do? What can they do right away? It it's really pretty simple. Rob, go to GSA.gov click on and there's you'll probably find a link. I think it's something like how to do business with the federal government and just start following through that. It will guide you through a couple of decision points to get you into the right kind of the right bucket so that if you're you know, if you're you're like you said, if you're a journeyman, you know, you're a janitorial company, you don't need to be applying for, you know, an I.T services schedule and work through that process and submit your offer. Right. So pretty, pretty straightforward, maybe a little intimidating because when we start thinking about going to websites, trying to figure things out, but there's, I'm sure lots of help along the way and I've been to the website. It is pretty, pretty well done, pretty simple. And clearly, you know, hundreds of thousands of contractors are using that vehicle and it's working out pretty well. And patience sounds like the word of the day here for that. Hey, Rob, can I tag on? Yeah, please. Please do, Herman. Yeah.. Another useful resource is a website that I'll get listeners if you want to jot it down real fast of that, be great. It's just these GSA OSDBU Office. And for those of you who aren't familiar, it's the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization. We call it the OSBU, but their website, they've got a great shortcut. It's just GSA.gov/osdbu or osdbu. From that website you're going to see a myriad of trainings that they have for industry partners just looking to get into federal contracting. You know, Jean mentioned did a great job of describing all of the different contract vehicles that we have across the different disciplines. And this really gives GSA vehicles can seem like the shiny object. Right. But there's really, really you want to be careful. And when I say be careful, is that in business, you have to always know what you're getting into, because once you get into something too, for a lot of time, it's hard to turn back around. Right? So, you know, leverage groups such as GSA's OSDBU office, they got some great folks over there who have been doing this for years, decades, some decades I've been working with who can tell you the game. This is what you should consider. This is what you should not consider. Also, groups such as the Apex Accelerators, which used to be known as PTACS funded by DOD. But folks who have been1102s and 1101s before, I can tell you, Hey, this is what you can expect if you want to be a GSA contractor. And you know, let's not forget our friends over there, the SBA, the Small Business Administration, who can kind of help you figure out if your business is ready to be a GSA contractor. Now, if your businesses are ready, that's no problem. You're just not ready yet. And I would much rather somebody tell me I'm not ready now rather than to tell me I'm not ready a year from now. So. Rob, thanks for letting me tag on to what Jean was saying. I appreciate it. Sure. That's yeah, that's incredibly helpful and really encouraging and really is. I want to pivot here a little bit, Herman. If there's a company out there right now, they're like, we're really good at exactly what he's talking about or really good at something in particular, something deep in emerging technologies. What do they do about that? Because we talked a little bit earlier in the podcast that maybe the ship has sailed is what we said about the initial offering. So clearly they're just not out forever. Where are they at? I'm a company that I'm really good at something. I really think I can help my government and I really want to get in on this. What can they do? Well, you know, before you could play the game, I think you have to understand the game. And so I would say from the from the vantage point of someone who might be considering they want to be part of the 8(a) STARS GWAC , as Jean mentioned earlier, there's always an opportunity for subcontracting. What's really cool about this vehicle is that all of our 1100 plus industry partners have great flexibility with whom they can subcontract with, which is nice because it gives flexibility to our industry partners, which ultimately leads to flexibility at the at the task order level by the acquisition team. Those folks who are just wanting to get in from the beginning. Again, I would you know, I would focus on GSA’a OADBU and work with the Apex accelerator to get in. But one thing that I would kind of want to talk about or mentioned is that, you know, the government doesn't move as fast as as industry, right? Especially when we're talking about technology technologies that small businesses are working on today. Maybe the government hasn't even thought of them. So I just want to bring up the the collaboration aspect of it. You know, a lot of times, as Jean was mentioned in the statement of objectives, a lot a lot of small businesses, they know how to achieve that objective and actually can serve as a consultant to many federal agencies on, Hey, this is what I see your risks are, here's what I see your problems are, here's what I would suggest this or I would suggest that. So I always like to tell people about the collaboration. It was always this myth that government and industry can't talk to each other. Well, how does that work? Right? We have to be able to talk to each other. But I've had a help agencies achieve their IT missions. And so, you know, Rob it kind of depends if somebody wants to, you know, kind of be part of this 8(a) STARS 3 family, you know, they would definitely serve as subcontractors, you know, But if they want to sit in the catbird seat and be the driver, definitely I would take a look at those schedules that Jean talked about. But before you do that, I would just try to understand the game and learned process. And again, GSA’s OSDBU office, the Apex accelerators maybe want to join an association group to help learn, but that's kind of that's that's where I would I would start if I were back in and if I were back 20 years ago, back when I was doing them. That's where I’d start. Herman, real quick, before we before we close, you mentioned becoming a subcontractor. Is there a list of the contractors that you can look at to see What do they do? Am I a good fit as a subcontractor? Can they where would they go to find that? Yeah, definitely. So I'll speak from the 8(a) STARS 3 vantage points that on our website and I'll give you guys a shortcut if you want to take your time to grab your pin again. But we try to do our best with shortcuts on our on our website. It's just GSA.gov/stars and the number three gsa.gov/stars and then the number three. But but from our website there's a listing of our 1100 plus industry partners. And the really good thing is that Jean and his team have done a great job of maintaining this list, but it's got program managers points of contact information, including email, telephone number, you know, where that company is located geographically. And so, you know, should you want to take a look at a company's website and maybe reach out to them and say, hey, I understand you've got a relationship with EPA, for example. Hey, you know, I know someone in EPA. I know that they have a need here. There they could totally reach out. So again, you've got 1100 industry partners that you could reach out to. I would encourage you not to do any mass email, but to find those industry partners who really align with the services that you provide. Or another way of saying is what can you bring to the table? How can you provide synergy to an existing industry partner? And that would really be a great place to start. Well, excellent. Well, we've covered a ton of ground here today. Guys, thanks for being with us. Anything else either one of you would just want to jump in that you want small businesses to know or any final thoughts or key takeaways you want them to remember? Well, Rob, I’ll kick it off again. Thanks. Thanks for having us. I had a had a great time, to be honest with you. Our website again is is our greatest resource. And the reason I say that because, you know, we spend about 25, 35 minutes here talking at a pretty high level. But you know, in terms of the 8(a) STARS 3 GWAC regarding our website is a is a super, super resource, I would encourage any industry partner or, you know, prospective industry partner across GSA just to learn, just to go ahead and learn how how the program works. If you're interested in schedules, hey, what is a multiple award schedule? How do I get on it? Why would an agency even use a multiple award schedule and go ahead and immerse yourself, become a part of those associations? As I mentioned, just immerse yourself into the environment so that you can understand or, you know, you can look yourself in the mirror, say either are ready for this. Well, I'm not ready yet. So that's what I would say to close out. What what do you say Jean? Do you do anything? Yeah, absolutely. If you know kind of the niche you're looking for. But I did while we were were chatting here, I pulled up the GSA website Simple, straightforward, GSA.gov. And in the right hand corner, there's a little menu bar. And if you pull that down, about the third, third line down is simply a link that says how to sell to the government and so if if you're completely new to this, that's a way to start doing some some individual research on what the GSA has to offer and again, engage your your Small Business Administration district office folks, because, I mean, their job, one of their jobs is to help you, you know, to help our small businesses succeed in the federal market. Gentlemen, thank you so much. This this episode really has the potential of really being a game changer for small businesses out there. So thank you for taking the time. You know, I hope I hope you've all found our exploration of small business contracting and specifically the best in class 8(a) STARS 3 GWAC program, both helpful and interesting. We've had the privilege of speaking with Herman Lyons and Jeanne Fluevag from GSA. Thank you both for doing a great job shedding light on the Stars program and how the GSA team can help small businesses get on board. So whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur looking to participate as an industry partner or simply someone interested in understanding the inner workings of government contracts, we hope this episode has provided some real insights and sparked your curiosity. And to find out more, join us for the Federal Acquisition Service Industry Partners Symposium on July 19th from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. For insights, guidance and tools that will help you receive and manage a government contract, this virtual event will include training tracks for every level of government contracting experience, networking opportunities and exhibit booths hosted by GSA experts. For more information, we'll be sure to put the links to the event in the show description. Thank you for joining us today. If you've enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and share the podcast with others who might find it valuable. We really do appreciate your support and be sure to join us next time on GSA DOES THAT!? As we explore the Revolutionary Green Proving Ground program, where GSA is leading the country in transformative and innovative building technologies, get ready to learn about the power of a greener future. Be sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss another episode. And for more information, visit GSA.gov/podcast. Or to suggest a topic or guest, send us an email at GSA DoesThat@ GSA .gov. I'm your host, Rob Trubia. Our executive producer is the one and only Max Stempora. GSA Does That!? a production of the U.S. General Services Administration, Office of Strategic Communication.